A FORMER Celtic starlet accused of posting a sectarian message on Facebook has walked free from court after she claimed it was just a “bit of banter”.

Megan McFadden, 20, admitted to police officers that she had posted a comment on her social network website on the day of the Old Firm game on February 1, 2015.

Included in the post were the words “dirty orange inbred monkey b*******”.

She deleted the comment after it was posted and said it was intended as a “bit of banter” between her and one of her friends and not intended to be offensive.

Rangers fan and former player Alison Clark-Dick reported the message after seeing a screenshot of it on a Facebook group and claimed she had “never seen anything as offensive” before.

But yesterday it was ruled that the Crown hadn’t proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

At Glasgow Sheriff Court McFadden, from Drumchapel, Glasgow went on trial for allegedly behaving in a threatening or abusive manner likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm by acting in an abusive manner and posting offensive and sectarian remarks.

Sheriff David Young QC said: “The Crown has not proved the case beyond reasonable doubt, I find that the charge is not proven.”

Speaking after the verdict Paul Kavanagh, defending, said: “My client is delighted with the carefully considered verdict given by the sheriff and looks forward to getting on with her life.”

Miss McFadden, who was with Celtic at the time but has since left the club, cried and hugged her family after the verdict.